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“I SAT there one day reflecting on all the people I had screwed over in the pursuit of success.” This fed-up Aussie set of for life of travel, arriving in his latest destination with just $7 in his pocket.

Getting to Lake Sandoval is a real adventure. Picture: Thinkstock Source: National Features

NOWHERE better encapsulates the phrase "getting there is half the fun" than Sandoval Lake in Peru's Amazon jungle.

I felt like Indiana Jones as we flew into Puerto Maldonado, a busy industrial port city on the Amazon side of the Peruvian Andes. It's a rubber boomtown, a logging centre, a hub for goldminers and oil prospectors, and a focal point for crops such as coffee and Brazil nuts.

Brazil nuts in Peru? It makes sense because this neck of the woods is very close to the Brazilian and Bolivian borders, which adds to the town's frontier feel.

From the airport, we take a quick car trip through the town to the bank of the river: Madre de Dios - Mother of God. (A curse, I wondered, or a reverent description?)

We were soon to find out, boarding a long canoe for our journey into the wilderness, jostling other craft as we cross the waterway. On the other side, we hike through thick jungle for about 40 minutes until we reach a little dock at the edge of a creek. A guide was waiting in what appeared to be a very small canoe.

At this moment, the Harrison Ford fantasies kick in. We're heading somewhere very remote and this is the only way to get there.

The canoe is only a few metres long and seems barely able to carry all the gear. Nevertheless, loaded-up, we paddle along the creek, which in places is no more than 1.5m wide. The canopy closes in above as howler monkeys swing through the treetops. This is an epic adventure.

The creek eventually opens up into Lago Sandoval. It's a stunning moment - we arrive on sunset, paddling across a pink-tinged waterway with black caimans (Amazon crocodiles) swimming beside us.

We reach Lago Sandoval Lodge, which is about 30m above the lake and affords views of the surrounding ecosystems. The lodge is a joint operation by a conservation organisation and five local families.

It was built from driftwood brought downstream by floods.

As the lodge was built on the site of an old farm, the owners pride themselves on the fact that not one tree was felled in its development. That's impressive sustainability.

And then there's the wildlife. To the monkeys and crocodiles, add tarantulas, red-bellied macaws, sloths, bats and the endangered giant otter (known as Giant Sea Otters, despite the fact that we are hundreds of kilometres from the ocean).

In Lago Sandoval there is a family group of seven or eight otters, including two youngsters about eight or nine months old. The group always fishes together.

About once a year, one or two members of the family go off to start their own somewhere else.

I wonder how they get on with the caimans but apparently the question should be how do the caimans get on with the otters? These feisty critters will hunt as a pack if threatened. In Spanish they're known as "river wolves".

I am introduced to another feisty creature: the bullet ant. Apparently, when they bite it stings like a bullet. I'm not about to test the theory but it is the biggest ant I've ever laid eyes on.

If I get bitten, I can always try the cure-all qualities of a plant endemic to the area: quinine. I have a taste - extremely bitter.

The native people used it for centuries to treat fever. In the 15th century, Jesuit missionaries tried using quinine to treat malaria. It was like a miracle cure.

The story goes that British soldiers hated the bitter taste, so someone came up with the idea of mixing it into gin and tonic. Suddenly, everyone wanted malaria!

I'll pass on that, but I have to admit the food and refreshments at Lago Sandoval Lodge are plentiful enough to keep you sated for a relaxing couple of days.

There are 25km of forest trails to explore or you can kick back in a hammock, cocktail in hand, and try your luck at spotting the chicken-sized, prehistoric hoatzin - a unique-looking bird with a wild mohawk.

LAN Airlines offers six weekly flights from Sydney to Santiago, Chile, via Auckland, with onward connections to more than 10 destinations in Peru including Lima, Cusco and Arequipa.

LAN also offers non-stop flights between Sydney and Santiago every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday in a codeshare partnership with Qantas. Ph 1800 558 129 or see lan.com

Doing there

World Expeditions' 19-day Best of Peru & Bolivia tour costs $3290 a person (excluding international flights). From Lima, across the backbone of the Andes to the Amazon jungle, the tour takes in Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian capital, La Paz.

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